Thursday 16th October is Blog Action Day #BAD14, supported by Oxfam. This year, Blog Action Day is tackling #inequality, a universal theme across society internationally and one that charities like Oxfam work tirelessly to combat.
This week - 13th - 19th October is also food poverty week in Greater Manchester (www.manchesterfoodpoverty.co.uk) - a week encouraging businesses in Manchester to take action tackling the #inequality of food poverty.
One in 10 people in Greater Manchester said they skipped meals so a family member could eat, the joint highest number in the UK along with Glasgow and Birmingham.
source: Greater Manchester Poverty Commission
The Trussell Trust currently runs 17 food banks in Greater Manchester. The charity has plans to open more to meet demand.
source: Manchester Evening News
With companies like Eversheds, Kellogg's, Trafford Housing Trust and Shoosmoths supporting charities such as Trussell Trust, Fareshare, Business in the Community and Forever Manchester, it's a great movement to address the inequality raised by the fact that some are being deprived a basic human function such as eating, and eating well.
There is currently no established measure of food poverty in the UK (unlike the measure for fuel poverty). This is despite the fact that the average UK household spends more than twice as much on food as it does on utilities. People’s spending on food adjusts according to their situation and some families struggling to make ends meet will cut back on food expenditure and may even go without meals such as breakfast.
Food poverty Week also raises fundamental questions about how we tackle inequality - by addressing food poverty with solutions such as food banks are we inadvertently widening the gap by increasing dependence on handouts? Yet how can we address the immediacy of there being children in Greater Manchester who don't start the day with the proper fuel to thrive without immediate support.
Addressing inequality isn't easy and knowing what the right solution is can be a real challenge, and one that asks those involved to come up with creative solutions, investing a large amount of time and energy into projects. But activity such as Food Poverty Week and Blog Action Day ensure that the conversations are being had and that inequality isn't being ignored. And it seems to me that that is the first part of the battle.
Thursday 16 October 2014
Wednesday 15 October 2014
Full term with twins....(37 weeks)
Or you could say, just generally feeling very full! Having experienced a singleton pregnancy last year (for those not down with the twin mama lingo, that means a normal pregnancy where you just have one baby) I would say that the following key differences are:
Being More Full
With one baby you get an occasional kick to the bladder, some pressure on your stomach, a foot in the ribs (our first born had a habit of hooking his baby toes around my ribs like a little bat and I used to have to reach in and wiggle them out in order to get some comfort, he and I have similar battles now he's 18 months old) but with a twin pregnancy, they're everywhere, all the time. Bladder squashed, stomach so compressed you can't eat quarter of a meal nevermind a plateful, all food inching it's way back up your oesophagus, ribs and lungs half their size, etc etc.
You become a talking point
People have even stronger opinions about your pregnancy (and aren't afraid to voice them)
a lot of twin blogs/ books I've read talk about the mean things that people say to those expecting twins "rather you than me" or "your life is so over" or "twins is going to be such hard work". My experience has for the most part been slightly different - less mean and a bit more jealousy - as if I deliberately chose to be pregnant with twins and designed the situation. "that's going to make a real difference in the time you need off work to get your family started", "you're so lucky to be getting two babies from only one pregnancy", "I've always wanted twins". I suppose all of these are nice things to say - but whatever the opinion., people certainly don't hld back when they find out you're expecting twins.
You become a spectacle
The stage on from the above is you near the end of a twin pregnancy, perfect strangers feel the need to comment on how massive you are. it usually goes something like this
Stranger: You can't have long to go now
Me: Still got 3 weeks to go actually
Stranger: Really, 3 weeks still?!
Me: Yes, it's twins that I'm expecting
Stranger: Well, I'm not surprised, you're so huge, I thought it would have to be twins
Me: Yes, I'm huge
Stranger: Well, good luck, twins is going to be hard work....
Everyone in the world is a twin/ knows a twin/ is married to a twin
Having never really thought about twins before becoming pregnant with them, I've been totally surprised by how many twins there are out there! From work colleagues married to them, taxi drivers who have twin grandchildren, and online shopping delivery drivers who are twins, as soon as you mention you are carrying two babies, it all comes out! It's been great to experience so many unique stories - and has certainly made the experience feel a lot more "normal" than we first thought.
You will probably feel all pregnancy symptoms x 2
My experience with nausea, fatigue, indigestion, restless legs, sleepless nights, water infections, anaemia and PUPPP have certainly made this pregnancy harder then my first pregnancy with one baby. And I've been really lucky! The strain of carrying two babies is phenomenal (and obviously even harder if you're carrying more than two - wow to the triplet mums) The risks are greater and it's certainly more worrying. The silver lining is that in my case I was poorly at the beginning and now I can barely fit any food in, plus carrying an extra four stone of bump around on a permanent basis has meant that I haven't gained the weight on my arms, legs, face and bum that I did with baby number one.
You will feel luckier than you could ever imagine
For us particularly, this was a planned pregnancy, but it came much sooner than anticipated. Compared to the stories that I've heard from fellow expectant twin Mums for whom this is the culmination of a 10 year journey of trying, after several rounds of IVF, or after several unsuccessful pregnancies I feel incredibly humbled and blessed. And for every hormotional day, or for every negative comment, or for every sleepless night, feeling two babies growing inside you is a truly magical experience. And form what I hear, this is only the beginning, the truly magical times are yet to come - and I can't wait....
And from what I've heard that's mostly to do with them being containeddistill. But even though a twin pregnancy and having newborn twins is doubly hard, you will be doubly rewarded by amazing moments.
Thursday 2 October 2014
Finding out you're having twins......
At our 12 week scan, the sonographer said the words that we will never forget:
"I can see two babies"
WOW.
I laughed until I cried, and my husband became slightly hysterical until told firmly by me to calm down. The news that they were non-identical therefore low risk and both seemingly perfect and healthy was a great relief. Now all we had to do was tell the family and try and adjust to what was on the horizon.
With an 11 month old at home, we had fallen pregnant more quickly than anticipated, and the news that it was two made us feel doubly blessed. Breaking the news to people was lots of fun - mostly people thought that we were having them on!
Typically, my Mum was unsurprised. "Well darling, you are already so huge, I thought it had to be twins." Things only your mother can say.....
My Dad, just said "No, no, no, no no" and then "Idiots". I think he's still in shock.
The Mother-In-Law had a similar reaction to her son and laughed hysterically on the brink of tears for some time.
The news did help to explain the extreme nausea and fatigue that I'd been experiencing, along with other wonderful pregnancy symptoms such as over-salivation (really hard to deal with whilst you are also trying to teach your 11 month old that spitting is naughty)
Processing what two babies would mean took a while - not least that we would need to give up our city centre flat and lifestyle, purchase a car big enough for three car seats, and generally face the future with zero surplus funds for anything fun.
Luckily there's heaps of information available on the internet and we were at least able to gen up on what we could expect from the pregnancy and birth, and how we might be able to cope at the beginning with two newborns.
We also read a heap of books and did the "Twins Preparation Class" at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester where we'll be having the babies - all of which really helped us to understand how this experience would be different to what we had found when we had our son.
Being able to be well informed about the possible risks and complications has made it all a lot easier to deal with and understand, and we've been incredibly lucky all the way through. Having the extra scans and tests has also been really reassuring.
As we are poised to have these babies in the next few weeks, I'd say we are logistically, if not emotionally prepared, and very grateful to everyone who has helped us on this journey - carrying twins.
"I can see two babies"
WOW.
I laughed until I cried, and my husband became slightly hysterical until told firmly by me to calm down. The news that they were non-identical therefore low risk and both seemingly perfect and healthy was a great relief. Now all we had to do was tell the family and try and adjust to what was on the horizon.
With an 11 month old at home, we had fallen pregnant more quickly than anticipated, and the news that it was two made us feel doubly blessed. Breaking the news to people was lots of fun - mostly people thought that we were having them on!
Typically, my Mum was unsurprised. "Well darling, you are already so huge, I thought it had to be twins." Things only your mother can say.....
My Dad, just said "No, no, no, no no" and then "Idiots". I think he's still in shock.
The Mother-In-Law had a similar reaction to her son and laughed hysterically on the brink of tears for some time.
The news did help to explain the extreme nausea and fatigue that I'd been experiencing, along with other wonderful pregnancy symptoms such as over-salivation (really hard to deal with whilst you are also trying to teach your 11 month old that spitting is naughty)
Processing what two babies would mean took a while - not least that we would need to give up our city centre flat and lifestyle, purchase a car big enough for three car seats, and generally face the future with zero surplus funds for anything fun.
Luckily there's heaps of information available on the internet and we were at least able to gen up on what we could expect from the pregnancy and birth, and how we might be able to cope at the beginning with two newborns.
We also read a heap of books and did the "Twins Preparation Class" at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester where we'll be having the babies - all of which really helped us to understand how this experience would be different to what we had found when we had our son.
Being able to be well informed about the possible risks and complications has made it all a lot easier to deal with and understand, and we've been incredibly lucky all the way through. Having the extra scans and tests has also been really reassuring.
As we are poised to have these babies in the next few weeks, I'd say we are logistically, if not emotionally prepared, and very grateful to everyone who has helped us on this journey - carrying twins.
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